1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shielded wire harness, and also to a shielding member for such a wire harness.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the case where equipments in an electric vehicle such as an inverter equipment and a motor are to be connected to each other, for example, a shielded wire harness is used. As an example of a wire harness of this kind, known is a wire harness in which wire terminals are connected to end portions of conductors of shielded wires, the wire terminals are connected to equipment terminals disposed in a shield case of equipment, and shield layers of the shielded wires are connected to the shield case via a conductive connection members (see JP-A-11-026093).
In such a wire harness, inserting a wire terminal into a shield case, and connecting a connection member to the shield case must be repeated the same number of times as that of terminals (i.e., the number of the shielded wires), thereby producing a problem in that the wire harness requires cumbersome works in assembling.
In order to solve the problem, a structure may be employed in which wires having no shield layer are used, the wires are collectively covered by a flexible tubular shielding member formed by braiding, and wire terminals are connected to the wires, respectively. In such a wire harness of the common shield type, a work of connecting a shielding function portion (the shielding member) to a shield case is requested to be conducted only one time irrespective of the number of the wires, and hence the workability is improved.
In the case where a plurality of wires are juxtaposedly laid and wire terminals connected to terminal portions of the wires are attached to equipment, terminals of the equipment are laterally arranged so as to be separated from one another because of reasons such as avoidance of a short circuit. Even when the portions of the wires excluding the terminal portions are laid in a bundled state, therefore, the terminal portions of the wires are laid so as to be spread into a fan-like shape in accordance with the arrangement of the equipment terminals. In order to enclose the laterally spread terminal portions of the wires, a shielding member which has a long peripheral length or a large diameter is used.
In the case where wires are to be laid in a place where a sufficient space is not formed, such as an automobile, the wires are requested to be bundled so as to be thinned as far as possible on the whole, in order to reduce the space for the laying path. Therefore, it is not preferable to use a shielding member of such a large diameter.
As a method of reducing the space for the laying path, the following technique may be employed. A member which is formed by metal thin lines braided in a meshed manner is used as a shielding member. The shielding member has a small diameter corresponding to the diameter of a bundle of wires, and only a terminal portion of the shielding member is laterally widened. When such a shielding member is widened, large gaps are formed among thin metal wires, thereby causing the possibility that the shielding function is impaired.